[trip] NCRC Vertical Self-Rescue / Dynamited Cave

Many thanks to both John Punches and Aaron Stavens for teaching the excellent NCRC Vertical Self-Rescue course at Trout Lake this past weekend.

When the class met on Saturday morning, there were several ropes rigged high into tall doug-firs, which we used to practice the basics of changeovers, passing knots, and downclimbing. Before long, we were practicing climbing counterbalances, diminishing-loop counterbalances, assisted climbing, basic haul systems, and even single-rope pick-offs. We then headed to some beautiful nearby cliffs to put our new skills into practice.


Practicing vertical skills in the trees around camp.


Ralph rappels some nearby cliffs to investigate rigging options.

Finally, on Sunday, we headed into Dynamited Cave and split into two groups, tackling real-world rigging and implementing various counterbalance and haul systems in the less-than-ideal situations that are found underground. Though we were 15 people coming into the course with widely varying experience and skills, every person walked away from the weekend as a more competent vertical caver, and I believe everyone had a great time in the process.


Ralph assists an "injured" Albert up a pit.


JC guides Sarah while she is hauled from above.

See also: photos from NCRC Vertical Self-Rescue course

[trip] NCRC Orientation to Cave Rescue Class

This weekend I attended the Orientation to Cave Rescue class which was offered by the Eastern Region of the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC) at Laurel Caverns, PA.

We met at 8:00AM on Saturday morning at Laurel Caverns. The morning was spent in a classroom over a powerpoint presentation on the basics of cave rescue - command hierarchy, responsibilities, goals, etc. Several search-and-rescue teams were conducting a mock-search during our training. After a brief non-vegetarian lunch, we broke out into smaller groups and did some more hands-on training. One session showed us how to use military field telephones (fun!); one gave an extremely high-level wilderness first-aid lesson - too basic to help those with actual EMS training, too vague to help those without. A third session taught us how to package a patient in a SKED and a Ferno stretcher. We had a nice vegetarian dinner, then broke into two teams and did a rescue "obstacle course", where we would package a patient and then maneuver them (gently!) over, under, around, and through all sorts of constrictions, drop-offs, tunnels, and other brutal obstacles that simulated cave terrain. This was a lot of fun, but was extremely exhausting after 2.5 hours. We finished up around 8:00PM.

Again, we met at 8:00AM at Laurel Caverns, but Sunday was much different than the previous day's course. We arrived and were incorporated into the previous day's mock-search, which had now turned into a mock-rescue. In conjunction with the search-and-rescue teams, we reported to Barton Cave, where three cavers were suspected as being "lost". Since I am familiar with Barton, I was put on the initial search team as a guide. Our team went in to the back of the cave, where we quickly found the first "lost" patient (who really enjoyed playing the part of a lost old caver). After getting our patient out, we were sent back in to help extract an injured patient who was currently being packaged. It took about 4 hours to extract him, even though he was only a few hundred feet from the cave entrance, and it looked like quite an unpleasant ride.

I learned a great deal about how cave rescues operate and about how I can most effectively and efficiently help out. The most striking lesson of the weekend is how long it takes and how much effort is involved in extracting an injured caver - it will make me re-evaluate the sorts of risks that I take underground for sure! I had a great time taking the course, and I highly recommend it to all cavers.

[trip] Simmons-Mingo Rescue

At 4:40AM, the morning of Monday, April 23, 2007, I got a call from Doug Moore that there was a cave rescue callout at Simmons-Mingo Cave. Brian Masney, Josh Flaugher, and I rounded up our gear and headed South. We arrived at the historic entrance and were instructed to go to the Zarathrusa entrance and do a through trip, sweeping the cave for 5 lost cavers who had attempted a through trip from the same entrance on Saturday morning.

We arrived at the Zarathrusa entrance where Jason Thomas was waiting, but no one else was present. As we got geared up, a group of cavers and a communication team arrived and prepared to lay down telephone line behind us. We were in cave by about 10:30am and started doing whistle calls and checking side leads as we headed in the direction of the other end of the cave.

Eventually we made it to a steep muddy slope leading to an enormous lake. We were unable to find a way around, and the map that we were provided offered no help. We decided that the most prudent action would be to head back to the comm team as fast as possible for better directions. We made it all the way back to the entrance without encountering them - a hint that something was up.

Everyone climbed out the nasty Zarathrusa entrance, and there was nobody topside on the Dry Branch. We jumped in our vehicle and drove to the historic entrance, where we were very happily greeted. The lost cavers had been found within 1000 feet of the historic entrance, less than half an hour after we'd gone underground. Four of the cavers were already topside under their own power, and the fifth was currently being hauled out on a litter. The rescue crew was elated to see us because they'd expected that they'd have to wait there for us to complete the through trip.

By afternoon, the rescue operation had become extremely organized and more than 60 people had showed up to volunteer help. Three of the rescued cavers were taken to a hospital via ambulance, and another was flown via helicopter to be treated for mild hypothermia. All five returned home safely that night.

See also: Simmons-Mingo rescue on the NSS discussion forum, photos by Brian Masney